Brendan Venter has opened up on his infamous post-match interview which followed his Saracens side’s loss to Racing 92 in a European Cup clash in 2010.
Venter was speaking to the Telegraph in a wide-ranging interview on his time as Saracens director of rugby between 2009 and 2011.
The former Springbok was asked about his bizarre post-match interview with Sky Sports’ Martin Gillingham after Saracens had lost a European Cup tie to Racing 92 in December 2010.
Venter’s comments came weeks after he had been fined for complaining about referee Christophe Berdos following a loss to Irish side Leinster.
“We were driving to Gloucester on the bus and they had the movie ‘Mike Bassett: England Manager’ on,” Venter told the Telegraph. “It’s typical English humour and there was an interview with this really stupid coach. All he did was agree with the interviewer: ‘Yeah, really good, really good. Yeah, really poor, really poor’. I said: ‘That’s me! That’s my next interview. I’m going to show passive resistance’.
“There’s another brilliant scene where a player called Ramirez scores three goals against them and someone from the English team says: ‘Three cheers for Ramirez’. So, when the interviewer said to me that [Racing 92 wing] Sireli Bobo was really good I said: ‘Sireli Bobo, really good. Three cheers for Sireli Bobo’.
“My mother actually thought I’d been smoking something or that the stress had gotten to me. No not at all, it’s just a game. [Saracens CEO] Edward [Griffiths] was holding his head in the background. It was a bit of fun.
“With all of the stress and all of the pressure that goes into rugby, spending so much time with nice people is just a privilege. That’s what we keep saying to each other.”
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